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Category: NaNo

I kinda forgot about blogs last week. On Thursday afternoon I pulled up Feedly, and was like, “Oh yeah! Blogs! Hey!”

WHAT I’M READING

Last week I read Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi which was quite good. To be honest, I was disappointed in Shatter Me but I believe in Mafi’s writing so much (she’s got an insane amount of talent y’all), that I decided to give her another chance and read the novella sequel Destroy Me. And I loved it. It’s from Shatter Me‘s antagonist’s POV–Warner–and he’s all kinds of complex, multi-faceted, and just plain awesome. Mafi has a few kinks in her writing, but they’ll smooth out eventually and in the meantime, have I mentioned she’s insanely talented? And Warner is awesome? Okay, yeah. Mmmm … :)

Currently, I’m reading The Ask and The Answer, Patrick Ness’s sequel to The Knife of Never Letting Go. This man knows how to write, y’all. And he’s one of the few people that really, truly nails first person POV. If you haven’t read The Chaos Walking trilogy, I highly suggest it. Highly highly highly.

WHAT I’M WRITING

Well, nothing. Not even world building for my NaNo novel, which I don’t think I’m going to do. See, October is a rough month for me as far as mood and motivation goes. So, whenever I get motivation to do anything, I’m doing whatever I feel like doing. Which has mostly been taking advantage of our nice weather and getting painting projects done. But also reading. And last night, cleaning. So bad, right? So yeah, I don’t think I’m going to do NaNo, but I am participating in a challenge for the month of November, so I’m going to edit FRACTURED RADIANCE that month.

Part of the problem is my mood, but part of it is I’m losing my excitement for my next WIP. I don’t know if it’s because it’s becoming a reality (as I world build) and so it’s losing some of its mystery. Or if it’s because I’ve told the basic plot idea to a few people who didn’t seem very excited about it so I’m second guessing this story. The thing is, I’ve been sitting on and dreaming about this story for two years. So I really want to write it! But at the same time, I dunno. I’ll figure it out, though, I promise. I just need some caffeine in me. :D

Has anyone ever experienced this decrease in excitement as you get ready to work on a new project? It’s been so long since I started something completely new, so I can’t remember. Please tell me I’m not the only one, that this is normal, and I should still write my next book! Or should I take it as a sign? Above all, please tell me your honest opinions. :)

WHAT INSPIRES ME

We’ve had a really lovely October so far, with mostly warm and sunny days. I absolutely love it. Now, I love me some good crisp fall weather, and I love cold, snowy winter days. BUT, I love warm weather too. So I’ve been taking Turbo to the park and the zoo and on lots of walks. Gotta get it in while I can, right? And during his afternoon naps, I sit in my car with the door open and the sun shining on my face, reading reading reading. It’s been pretty awesome, I have to say.

WHAT ELSE I’M UP TO

Here’s my door!

Isn’t it luscious? I’ve added a plain branch wreath on it that I sprayed white, and currently it’s covered in fake spiderwebs for Halloween.

Here’s the moose rack!

Directly to the left of the black book shelf (on the left of the piano–it’s short) is our front door, so the moose is hard to miss for visitors. I love it! I’ve draped it in purple string lights for Halloween. ^_^

I finally found hot pink spray paint and painted my mirror, but I didn’t do an awesome job. I may or may not have forgotten to prime. Whoopsie … So, I’m going to sand, prime, and paint it all again, hopefully this weekend. (We’ll see if the weather cooperates.) From far away, it looks AWESOME. The color is fabulous. But up close (and it sits just above our kitchen table, so it’s all up in your biznass when you’re eating) it’s obvious what a hack job I did. Hah!

Ink on paper is as beautiful to me as flowers on the mountains; God composes, why shouldn’t we? ~Terri Guillemets

I thank you God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of the trees and a blue dream of sky. ~ e. e. cummings

Well, NaNo ends in three err, two days (can you tell I wrote this post on Sunday?). I thought I’d combine these two quotes for my final NaNo Quote post. First off, we have an incredible world. There’s no better inspiration than stepping our your front door. And second of all, writing is our way of creating beauty in this world. I’m so grateful for this talent and passion. It enriches my life; I hope one day it will enrich the lives of others.

“If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist? Chances you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.” -Steven Pressfield, The War of Art

Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass. ~Anton Chekhov

As I finish my edits on my thesis (printing it out TONIGHT!!), this quote really speaks to me. I aim to look at the world in new ways, and then translate that onto the page screen. So much easier said than done. I’ve been cutting boring descriptions and replacing them with more vivid ones (I hope!). And when you stumble onto that unique, yet true and beautiful passage, that captures something old and familiar in a fresh new way … that’s what writing is all about.

It’s November First, and of course, you know what that means: the official start of NaNoWriMo!

I really wanted to NaNo this year, especially after taking last year off, but it’s not in the cards. I mean, I could make the effort, but I would fail! Fail!! Waaaah!

Not like that’s such a big deal, but I’ve got enough to worry about this month without the added pressure of 50k words. I mail off everything next Monday to end my semester. To my prof, my final draft of my thesis and my paper on introspection. And to the MFA office: five professionally-printed-on-32-pound-paper copies of my thesis. Ready to bind. Holy cow. So school work is the name of the game this week! Then next week I fly out to Missouri to help wrangle my brother’s two sons, while his wife takes care of their newborn daughter. Then when I get back! Finishing touches on my craft lecture. NO REST FOR THE WEARY!!

BUT! I still want to push through on Sparks (when I can focus on it after Monday). I don’t anticipate getting a lot done while in St. Louis (because my life will not be my own!), but I want to get something down every day. So that’s my own NaNo goal: significant progress on Sparks. I want to define “significant progress,” but I don’t want to obsess over it too much (and risk not finishing my craft lecture by the end of the month. Priorities!) So, let’s just say … more than a few chapters. :)

Every week I’m going to post an inspirational quote on writing. Here’s this week’s:

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath